Afghan, U.S. forces seek fleeing Taliban in south

MSNBC ^ | 9/4/03

[TastyManatees]

Afghan, U.S. forces seek fleeing Taliban in south Pakistan renews hunt in border regions
ASSOCIATED PRESS

QALAT, Afghanistan, Sept. 4 — Afghan and U.S. forces scoured gorges and rugged mountain peaks in southern Zabul for suspected Taliban fleeing fighting that left scores of insurgents dead, an Afghan commander said Thursday.
While Afghan officials claimed victory, the U.S. military said the battle in Zabul's Dai Chupan district was not over.

Separately, at least 24 Pakistani military helicopters swooped in low over the tribal regions that border Afghanistan in a renewed hunt for fleeing al-Qaida and Taliban, witnesses said Thursday.
Government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said several of the helicopters carried ''foreign'' forces, an apparent reference to U.S. troops.
The U.S. military earlier deployed an unknown number of special forces into Pakistan's rugged tribal regions, but their whereabouts are kept secret and they keep a low profile, largely because of the deeply conservative nature of the region.
The Dai Chupan district in Afghanistan was the site of a nine-day offensive and some of the heaviest fighting since the ouster of the ruling Taliban in late 2001.
''The operation is ongoing, we are still searching for the enemy. We are not completed in Dai Chupan,'' U.S. military spokesman Maj. Ralf Marino said Thursday at Bagram Air Base, north of the Afghan capital, Kabul.
The main Afghan commander in the area, Haji Saifullah Khan, said the guerrilla fighters who escaped the battlefield have scattered in small groups to save havens in neighboring provinces.
''It is not known so far whether Taliban leaders were among the dead,'' Khan said. ''Many of the bodies were in bad shape.''
Afghan troops have found the bodies of at least 124 rebels since the joint offensive by Afghan government and U.S.-led forces began early last week, Zabul Intelligence Chief Khalil Hotak said. Five Afghan government troops were killed in the fighting, he said.
Hotak's account could not be independently verified. U.S. officials have put the confirmed death toll among the insurgents at just 37, but they have not updated that figure since Monday.
Marino said Thursday that it was too early to give a death toll.
Khan said the U.S. forces laid siege to mountain caves in Larzab and Sairo Ghar mountains of Zabul province and Afghan soldiers moved in when the fighting ended.
The hostilities, triggered by a wave of Taliban attacks on Afghan officials, police and aid workers in the south and east of the country, have underscored the security problems faced by the administration of President Hamid Karzai that took power soon after the Taliban's ouster by U.S.-led forces in 2001.
While Kabul-based diplomats and Afghan officials say there is little threat to the government, the capacity of the Taliban to mass hundreds of fighters in one place has shown how precarious its control is over parts of the country.

[TastyManatees]

The Taliban and their Al Qaeda friends are running scared. Our soldiers are killing them. We may have killed their leaders. Maybe they shouldn't have been drawing so much attention to themselves lately.

Tasty Manatees

[finnman69]

time for a Bug Hunt

[ladtx]

"We will find those who did it. We will smoke them out of their holes. We'll get them running, and we'll bring them to justice."
(President Bush's comments as he met with National Security Council at Camp David)

[MrsEmmaPeel]

9 days of bombing and only 124 dead? Somehow, I think the figure is off by a factor of 10 or more. Hope we bagged Omar and bin Laden this time.

[jriemer]

Bug hunt, look sharp.

[steveegg]

Afghan, U.S. forces seek fleeing Taliban in south

Guess that "Taliban Comeback" touted by CNN didn't go too well :-D

[steveegg]

9 days of bombing and only 124 dead? Somehow, I think the figure is off by a factor of 10 or more.

Two probable explanations; high explosives don't always leave identifiable body parts, and some of the Tali-dead got buried by their comrades before the clean-up detail made it there.

[sheik yerbouty]

"Exterminate the brutes"!

[DoctorMichael]

Pray for our troops.

Good hunting Bump.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Do you think the numbers might be sanitized for general consumption? (Doesn't bother me, I want us to bag as many bad guys as we can). But suppose the number was closer to 2,000, I can hear the left screaming that the big ol' mean USA is thumping those poor defenseless Tali-dead to a pulp and its not a fair fight. .. etc etc

[steveegg]

I think it's a case of being cautious, and reporting what is known rather than guessing (or doing the "McNamara math").

[D. Brian Carter]

OBL is long, long, long dead.

[RonF]

When they get together by the handful in terrorist cells, they can be effective, but massing together in scores and hundreds only makes them great targets. And we are getting better in hunting and killing in the mountains and working with the Pakistanis.

[b4its2late]

Take no prisoners!

[Solson]

What the heck is that?

[Grampa Dave]

Right on! Take no prisoners as these goat humpers are hunted down like rabid dogs. Kill all of them. That way they can never harm another innocent.

[Starboard]

Afghan and U.S. forces scoured gorges and rugged mountain peaks in southern Zabul for suspected Taliban fleeing fighting that left scores of insurgents dead

Whatcha gonna do when dey come for you?

[jriemer]

That's a dropship from Aliens digitally landing on an aircraft carrier.

Another view with armament pods opened (not from movie)

[Coop]

OBL is long, long, long dead.

I wish.

[bruin66]

Minorities and homeless hardest hit...